


to know things like love

by cabriesun



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Confession, Fluff, Healing, M/M, Post Season 6, Season 6 Content, Season/Series 06, god my heart fucking hurts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 09:53:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14952404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cabriesun/pseuds/cabriesun
Summary: “I love you.”I love you.Keith had told Shiro years before Kerberos, that he hated those words. They were abused, lost their sentiment long ago. He watched kids proclaim love like nobody’s business every day. Shiro didn’t blame the young man for dismissing the term as a whole.But in the heat of the moment, he said it. And even beyond the world of the living, Shiro could feel the power, thetruth, behind every single word.





	to know things like love

**Author's Note:**

> ........season 6?  
>  yeah ahhahaha uh, _ouch_.  
>  i know i don't write a lot of sheith, but trust me, _this season fucking empowered my very being_
> 
> so, enjoy! because i certainly did...
> 
> look out for my huge, keith mini bang fic, coming in july! *wink*
> 
> if it wasn't made clear, **THERE IS CONTENT FROM SEASON 6 REFERENCED IN THIS WORK, PLEASE RUN AWAY IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED IT YET!**

“You think you’re gonna keep it white?”  
  
Shiro’s hands retract from his hair, startled but pleased to hear Keith’s voice. It’s been so long since he’s heard it outside of virtual mindscape. Here, it’s concrete, no longer intangible.  
  
“Maybe,” he responds quietly, eyes still heavy. Keith nods, lingering at a safe distance. Shiro wants to ask him to move closer, being that he hasn’t dared to be intimate since Allura miraculously revived him. Though he wasn’t physically present during the brawl with his imposter, he remembers every moment. The frames flip like a picture book in his slowly mending mind, and his heart _aches_ at the pain he’s caused. Uppercutting Lance. Tossing Hunk like a bag of flour. Injuring his fellow teammates like it’s his day job.  
  
Holding Keith by the neck of his sword.  
  
A twinge in Shiro’s head stops the bad thoughts, just for a while. Albeit this being the sole fuel to his fears, there’s an instance that echoes louder than them all.  
  
_“Shiro, please… you’re my brother.”_  
  
_He pursued further, pressing the blade close to his scathed cheek._  
  
_“Gah—ah—”_  
  
_The clone paid no mind. Shiro held his breath._  
  
_“I love you.”_  
  
I love you.  
  
Keith had told Shiro years before Kerberos, that he hated those words. They were abused, lost their sentiment long ago. He watched kids proclaim love like nobody’s business every day. Shiro didn’t blame the young man for dismissing the term as a whole.  
  
But in the heat of the moment, he said it. And even beyond the world of the living, Shiro could feel the power, the _truth_ , behind every single word.  
  
“You still feel okay, right?”  
  
He turns to Keith, dressed in lounge pants and a loose t-shirt as he closes the blinds of their worn down hotel room. They would have gone back to the shack, but with Garrison scientists creeping all over the property, it just didn’t feel right. He’s happy Keith took the initiative to move them elsewhere.  
  
“As fine as I can be, yeah,” Shiro tries to smile, but concern still tints Keith’s somber shades of violet. Did…did his eyes get bigger since they last saw each other? He’s already taller. Besides physical differences, his former protégé seems to be showcasing a tight grip on the issues that once plagued him. To see Keith so mature and put together, it makes him wonder just what pushed him to finally utter those three words.  
  
“Good,” Keith seats himself on the twin bed, eyeing him knowingly, “just make sure you tell me if anything’s wrong—”  
  
“Keith…”  
  
“Yeah, Shiro?”  
  
“Are…”  
  
He hesitates. Maybe bringing it up right now isn’t the best call to action.  
  
“Shiro—”  
  
“Are _you_ okay?”  
  
Keith’s lips tighten into a thin line, and Shiro knows that means he’ll probably get an answer that doesn’t satisfy his question enough. He can’t begin to imagine how much of Keith’s energy went into saving his sorry ass, but he knows he’ll sleep easier once the younger acknowledges his own health.  
  
“That doesn’t matter right now—”  
  
“No, no it does,” Shiro intervenes sharply, “I’m fine now, Keith. You found me, everything’s going to be okay with me. But are _you_?”  
  
He makes a sound of discomfort, turning away and crawling under his sheets. Shiro’s body slumps, weight on his lighter side,  
  
“Keith—”  
  
“I’m fine, Shiro.”  
  
It’s a lie. Shiro knows it. Keith can’t look him in the eyes when he dodges the truth. But he takes it, turning off the light above the mirror he’s been staring in for far too long. The moon is their only source of light as Shiro seats himself at the foot of Keith’s mattress.  
  
“I heard you,” he decides to say, exhausted from keeping his feelings pent up, “when… when I—”  
  
“It wasn’t you, Shiro.”  
  
“So you know what I’m talking about?”  
  
Keith, regretfully Shiro thinks, (but he’s also paranoid), nods his head as he shuffles to sit back up. Shiro reaches out to help, but he holds an assured hand up. So Shiro waits, holding his breath, weary of his racing heart as Keith opens his mouth to speak on behalf of his confession.  
  
“If you’re uncomfortable… if it’s not returned, I understand,” he starts, “it was probably just the stress of it all. I meant it, with all my heart, but it wasn’t supposed to come out. Not yet, at least. I wasn’t sure. I always thought the feeling was one of companionship…or, brotherhood. But I looked closer, looked deeper. I learned to understand that the feelings I was pushing down were…”  
  
He takes a deep breath, body physically relaxing on the exhale.  
  
“So yeah. That…I’m sorry.”  
  
“Don’t be.”  
  
Keith’s burning gaze continues to steer clear of his.  
  
“I just, you never said it. You _hated_ it, if I remember correctly.”  
  
“I didn’t hate the words, Shiro. I hated, using them where they weren’t meant to be used. I hated saying ‘I love you’ because someone bought you ice cream and you weren’t expecting it. It’s reckless, it took away from it. I told you I love you because I _do_. I _have_.”  
  
Shiro’s heart swells at the sound, still pounding against his chest. He wants to reach out, maybe hold Keith’s hand. But the elder’s body is rigid, frozen in place and prey to his profession.  
  
“It just, took me some time to recognize it.”  
  
“The mission?” He throw out a guess, “With your mother?”  
  
“I uh…” he pauses to toy with his fingernails, “yeah.”  
  
“I won’t pry,” Shiro assures him gently, finally making that move and resting his palm atop Keith’s, “I just wanted to know where your head is.”  
  
“I’m—I’m so sick of _losing_ you,” his voice cracks, “every time I have you, you slip from my hold, and it _sucks_ Shiro. To lack someone so essential, so important to me. At first, I thought it was just because you were like— my only friend and role model…”  
  
“ _Wow_ ,” Shiro tries to sustain his laughter as Keith smiles behind his hidden face, “you still seem to have your way with words.”  
  
“Yeah yeah… but I mean I just, Shiro, I found it all. I found answers; I know why my mother left, I got to bond with her and have this life I never got to live as a child. I got to rest, mourn what I’d lost, move on with what I have…I could _breathe_.”  
  
“I know,” A hand rests on the Red Paladin’s shoulder, rubbing patterns near the nape of his neck, “I couldn’t be happier for you. I know it’s everything you’ve been chasing and more.”  
  
“But it’s not.”  
  
Shiro’s fingers slow.  
  
“You are. Shiro, I had everything, but all I wanted was you.”  
  
His _mind_ stops working.  
  
“You…what?”  
  
“I had my mother,” Keith’s on a spiel by now, “I had closure. I found my family, I found my story. But one night, I was laying awake, and all I wanted to do was hold you. To be _held_ by you, to tell you everything I’ve found and more.”  
  
Silence.  
  
“I guess it took _saying_ it, to make it real.”  
  
Shiro finds his voice in seconds.  
  
“Keith…”  
  
“You’re my calling. You’re were my beginning, and I was ready for you to be my end.”  
  
Tears fall freely from Shiro’s stormy eyes as he cups the back of Keith’s neck with his human hand,  
  
“I love you too.”  
  
It spills out desperately, not the way Shiro wanted it to be in the slightest. But Keith doesn’t care; he can see it, written in his eyes, his smile, the soft glow of his skin. Keith’s just happy they’re alive, and in each other’s embrace. It’s a level of love that Shiro has yet to comprehend and understand for himself but can feel sparking from Keith’s fingertips. His eyes flutter shut, a shaky sigh tumbling from his lips as Keith’s frail fingers swipe at the wetness coating his cheeks.  
  
“I love you,” he repeats.  
  
“I love you too,” Shiro follows, begging for him to _say it again_ from within.  
  
“I,” Keith kisses him and his eyes split wide open, “love,” another peck on his lips, “ _you_.”  
  
Shiro gapes for a moment, the sparkle in the latter’s eyes one of delight. His bottom lip quivers as he starts to feel tears streaming down his face once more. But he can’t help it; he’s never witnessed the young man so happy, never seen him so content. And it’s because of _their_ love, of all things. Because of _all_ of the people in the world, he’s hopelessly and endlessly devoted to Shiro.  
  
To have felt that way for his entire life, and have the feeling returned? Shiro feels like he’s beyond the grave once more, his heaven taking the form of the space between Keith’s arms.  
  
Instead of returning the words, he cups Keith’s cheek in his palm and kisses him tenderly, their breathing gentle as lips mold together comfortably. It’s the kiss Shiro saw in his dreams when he went to sleep, the kiss he imagined when he’d spend time with Keith and couldn’t tear his eyes away from that mouth that just seemed too good to be true.  
  
He was right, to say the least. Let the record show that kissing Keith Kogane is certainly an out of body experience. He can feel his soul stirring in the body that isn’t his, but that’s a worry that no longer plagues him. Shiro parts Keith’s mouth with his, the younger winding his arms around his neck. They’re ridiculously in tune with each other, lost in touch and passion. Shiro can’t name a feeling that could surpass the one pumping through his veins.  
  
Too many _I love you_ s are exchanged that night. There were moments filled with laughter, a few that held tears, but Shiro would remember each one. Those, and every second they’d spend together after tonight.  
  
He hasn’t the slightest clue how to decipher such a concept like love. But for now he’s content with the definition of love he’s been given, time after time.  
  
Keith.  
  
Keith, is love.

**Author's Note:**

> so, yeah.  
> there's my therapy for the pain.
> 
> i hope you enjoyed!  
> you can come [scream with me](https://sheith-keef.tumblr.com) here!


End file.
